


Insomnium

by Lydia_Ren



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, F/M, Found Family, Friendship, Half-Blood Cedric, Hemlock family, Hogwarts, Hogwarts Prefects, Nightmares, Original Character(s), Pranks, Pure Blood family, Ravenclaw, Slow Burn, The Malfoys - Freeform, bloodlines
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:55:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28403607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lydia_Ren/pseuds/Lydia_Ren
Summary: Francine Hemlock is the pink sheep of her family, refusing to fit in with the pure-blood ideals her father and mother put into place. As she grows older and steps away from her family during her years at Hogwarts, she only grows more rebellious.Will Francine be able to break away from generational curses and forge her own path in the wizarding world? Or will tradition and blood force her into the wrong side of history?
Relationships: Fred Weasley/Original Female Character(s), Fred Weasley/Reader





	Insomnium

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! I know I disappeared for a bit from my story, "By the Fire," but school, work, and mental health kind of stopped me from writing. I hope to continue writing that story and I am putting out feelers for this one! Feel free to let me know what you think. 
> 
> Talk to me on Tumblr! Lydia-Ren

Francine Hemlock comes from a long line of proud Slytherins, except for the few relatives who found themselves at Durmstrang instead of Hogwarts. The little Hemlock grew up surrounded by a ring of pureblood families, families who spoke whisperings of being death-eaters, following Lord Voldemort, cloaks and masks buried away until their master calls on them. The Hemlock family was often in the company of The Malfoys, sometimes trailed by The Crabbes and The Goyles. 

Being two years older than Draco meant they were raised like cousins, borderline siblings with how often their families were together. From an early age she had to learn how to deal with the brattiness of Draco, keeping him sated with whatever games he requested and taking him out to explore the outside world. Francine was fine with playing with Draco until he began to parrot his father’s opinions. The young blonde spewing hatred against people he had never met, thinking himself to be higher than those with “un-pureblood.” 

Despite being raised in such a sheltered environment, Francine did not believe in her family’s values. She refused to find hatred in her heart for those with different backgrounds. She stopped playing with Draco whenever the two families were together so her mother forced her to sit in with the families, sitting quietly and taking in whatever the conservation the adults were having. 

Whenever her father and Lucius would discuss other wizarding families, the mixed bloodlines, she would want to ask them more about half-bloods and muggles, eyes full of wonder, wanting to hear about their lives. She tried her best to sit silently, to be seen and not heard, but once at the tender age of seven, she broke like a dam. She asked her father and Lucius to tell her more of muggles and half-bloods, once the shock of her breaking their families’ ideals of politeness passed over, the two older gentlemen spewed their hatred to her. They threw around the word mudblood like it was nothing, talked about how they were poisoning the wizarding world, and should be banned from Wizarding schools. The young girl grew upset, snapping at her parents and Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, not understanding the deep rooted hatred they all seem to have. 

Her father told Francine to go to her room, when she sat still, he stood up and grabbed her arm roughly. Bruises would be there for days, staining her complexion like a dark mark. Her face flushed red, eyes brimming with tears as he dragged her to room and shoved her in without remorse or apology. His voice boomed, telling her she was to go without supper that night and any other night she dared to speak out to him or any of his friends. 

Even though her family’s teachings seemed to fail their only daughter, at the age of nine, her parents began taking her out to explore the wizarding world, wanting their only child to seem well-travelled and educated before her years at Hogwarts began. Little did her parents know that the young girl during her freetime in the villages and town, would find the half witches and wizards to talk to, even meeting a few muggles accompanying their significant others or with their own children. She fell in love with their stories of England, Scotland, Ireland, and all the places in between, she listened to their stories of “movies” and “cassettes” that played music. 

If she was lucky, an odd one would gift her something from the muggle world, a punk half-wizard giving her a cassette and a pin, an older muggle mother gave her the bracelet right off her wrist, or the shy boy of similar age to her giving her a toy “car.” She stored all of her lovely gifts in the floorboards of her bedroom, writing down the stories furiously when she arrived home from all of her trips so she could remember as much as possible about the other world. 

As they travelled home from trips she would bite her cheek and keep her witty remarks to herself as her father ranted about the “filthy mudbloods” that clogged up the streets. Sometimes, the anger would bubble out of her and she would snap at him, but only if she knew she had food hidden in her room. As she grew older, he would ban her from supper and breakfast if she particularly was defiant. Their house elf, Hodkey, knew of the hidden snacks but let them exist peacefully as the elf disagreed with Master Hemlock’s punishment, understanding the pain of being a young child not being able to eat. 

She grew closer to the age of 11 where she would be able to attend Hogwarts and make it her home as the Hemlock’s before her. The ever defiant child continued her education of the muggle world without a single hint of detection from the overbearing parents. On the day of her 11th birthday, a slew of wizarding families visited, remarking how bright and cunning the young girl was. Hodkey was the only one to ever notice that rather than ambitious and cunning, she was wise beyond her years and quite the intelligent young lady, but as all house elves, he kept those thoughts to himself. 

Francine was giddy at all her gifts, or at least seemed pleased to the outside world. She was gifted what seemed like fabulous, high end school supplies. She has yet to even receive her hogwarts letter, yet she sat there with pristine brand new books that fit the Hogwarts curriculum, the best cauldron on the market, and clothing that all fit the slytherin standard of green, silver, and black. She took mental note of where the gifts came from so she could send proper thank you notes, her pristine mother was so proud of the proper young lady her daughter has grown up to be, what was better than an eleven year old who took it upon herself to write thank you letters her mom thought as the cake was being cut. 

It seemed as if the whole party was themed around Slytherin, down to the green and black cake, and the guests in various shades of the house colors. Francine had no say in the matter, wishing her party would carry no theme. Until one day last week Mother Hemlock brought home a simple black and green dress for her to wear for the party, Francine’s parents both wore their signature all black with green and silver accents, such as her mother’s emerald earrings and her father’s ring. 

To the outside world they looked like the perfect pureblood family, all sharing the same pin straight black hair, her eyes blue like her fathers and a soft curved nose like her mothers. But on the inside, their own daughter was rotting away from their hatred and abuse. She despised the hair that her entire family seems to share and the eyes that looked exactly like her fathers. It was hard for her to look in the mirror and look at herself with seeing her father’s judging eyes. As September grew close and the summer came to an end, Francine was practically bouncing off the walls. She barely slept the night her letter came in, rereading the yellowed parchment paper over and over again until it began to crease and crinkle. 

Her family made a whole day out of going to Diagon Alley, even though she received most of her school supplies as birthday gifts, a few things were not able to be gifted, such as a wand. When the family, dressed head to toe in black, arrived at Ollivander’s, they were behind an eccentric mother with a mop of curly red hair reigning in two kids with the same mop of red hair while holding a young girl in her arms. The odd woman greeted Francine’s parents, her words soft and full of warmth. 

“Hello Matthias and Lucille, it’s been years since we’ve seen each other. Sorry about Fred and George, they are really excited to go to Hogwarts. I don’t believe I have met your little one, I guess she will be in the same year as my two boys here. I’m Molly Weasley, what is your name sweetie?”

The woman spoke fast, seeming genuinely happy to meet the young Hemlock despite her parent’s coldness. Francine can feel seeping in from them. 

“My name is Francine, ma’am.”

“Oh no need to call me ma’am, sweetie. It makes me feel old, you can just call me Molly.”

Francine clung to her mother, unaware of what to say next as she was raised to refer to her elders as sir and ma’am except for her parents or the Malfoys who were practically family. 

“Mom you scared her!” One of the young boys said. Francine finally took a good look at them and realized they were practically copies of each other, must be twins she thought. 

“George I did no such thing.”

“Mom, I’m Fred.”

The warm woman sighed in exasperation, once again apologizing for her boys the ever stoic Hemlocks. Francine could hear them bickering as they left the shop, arguing over who was Fred and who was George. For once she was thankful for being an only child. 

Ollivander greeted Francine first, not her parents, but the girl, which was odd for her. The kind old man helped her try out wands, telling her all about the different cores and woods used.

“She’ll take a blackthorn wand with a thestral hair core,” her father said, voice as stern as ever, once the first few wands failed her. 

“Well let’s see if that will work for young Miss Hemlock here.”

Ollivander handed her the black wand with spirals going down the handle, with a flick of the wrist she shattered a lightbulb and knocked open the door. 

“Seems that is not her wand Mr. Hemlock.” The old man remarked to him. 

The old man hummed to himself, tapping his finger to his chin as he scanned the piles of boxes that all held special unique wands. He let his hand graze the different boxes, until a spark ran through his hand. 

“Oh very interesting,” he remarked to himself. 

He grabbed the box, and handed the wand to the nearly upset girl who could sense her parent’s irritation that the wand they picked out for her did not agree with her powers. 

With another flick of the wrist, the dark brown wand grew bright, nothing flew off the wall like the wands before. 

“Very peculiar young Hemlock. You see your wand is Acacia wood with both a unicorn heart string and unicorn hair core, interwoven like a braid of hair. That wand has been sitting in this shop, for 500 years.”

“Thank you, sir,” Francine said, trying to hide her excitement from her parents. 

“Come on, let’s leave,” Lucille said in a pinched tone, clearly upset at the wand that chose her daughter. Matthias grumbled as they left, cursing out Ollivander as they walked down the street.

Francine tried her best to behave that day, not wanting to upset her parents any further. Earlier in the week she managed to convince her parents to let her adopt a cat instead of an owl, arguing with her parents both having owls they should not need a third to send letters and mail. For once, her parents let her make a decision. 

As they walked down Diagon Alley, passing the various shops and peddlers trying to sell familiars, Francine locked eyes with one particular creature, an orange kitten in a cage with his gray siblings. The seller was a sweet old woman who came from a long line of witches who raised familiars for the children of hogwarts, she agreed that the sweet orange kitten was right for the young Hemlock, gifting her a small mouse toy that was made with magic, meaning the kitten would not be able to destroy or lose the toy. 

After her robe fittings and lunch with her family, they returned to their residence. Hodkey was instructed to help Francine pack her trunk to make sure the girl packed all of her gifts and the needed supplies for her to succeed at Hogwarts as the next slytherin in the long line of Hemlock’s, becoming a prefect and then headgirl. She was not going to be forced to play quidditch but it was highly favored by her mother who was a seeker at just her third year. 

After a full night’s rest, she was off to Platform nine and three quarters accompanied with her parents. Her mom holding her hand and her father holding onto her shoulder, like a proud monarch. As her luggage was being stored onboard the gorgeous train, her father gave her a firm handshake, confirming that he packed extra coins in case something goes amiss, only her mother giving her a kiss and a hug. Lucille’s hugs were stiff and awkward, like no one ever hugged her before, Francine only ever felt cold whenever her mom touched her, like she was not even human. 

Francine pretended to listen to her parents, to store away in a compartment with fellow kids who come from long lines of purebloods, sure to be the next generation of slytherins. Rather Francine tucked away in an empty compartment with a notebook she stashed in her coat, ready to write down what she noticed at King’s Cross Station, the beautiful and amazing sites of muggles. Her very plump kitten, Pumpkin, tucked under her feet lazily taking a nap. Her father argued saying she should name the kitten something dignified like Salazar or Corvinus. She was dead set on naming the orange baby after the gourd that grew on the outskirts of town, adoring the charms casted on them around all hallow’s eve to light up and float with ever changing faces. She was hopeful for a quiet ride, away from her parents for once. 

Until halfway through the ride, a pair of familiar freckled faces slam open the door and slide in, out of breath like they had been running from something. 

“Pretend we’ve been with you the entire time,” the one who sat directly in front of her said. The other one sat on the same bench as her, eyes fixed on the lazy little feline curled on top of her black boots. 

Moments later an older woman stormed by, she opened the door with anger in her eyes, like she was a snake ready to strike. 

“You boys are in serious trouble when we get to Hogwarts!”

Francine panicked, like she was amidst a crime scene and all evidence points to her.

“Excuse me ma’am,” she bravely spoke, “These boys have been with me the entire time, we were talking about a muggle invention called a cassette tape.”

The woman narrowed her eyes, ready to call out the young lady for lying. 

“And who are you young lady?”

“Hemlock, Francine Hemlock.”

The woman’s face paled, like she was scared of just a name. 

“You three enjoy the rest of your trip, perhaps I accused the wrong pair of students.”

The mysterious woman left, leaving Francine with two troublemakers who clearly owe her now. 

“You’re quick on your feet,” said the one closest to her, Pumpkin already enjoying the head scratches from the young boy. 

“You two now owe me one. I know one of you is George and one of you is Fred, but which is which?” She asked, remembering her meeting them at Ollivanders. 

“I’m Fred,” the one who is now holding Pumpkin said, “and I’m George,” said the one sitting across from her. The boys sat with her for the rest of the journey, listening to her stories about muggles, knowing their father would be pleased to ever meet her. The girl who sat in the corner of the compartment was like a scientist working on a field case on the muggle world. As they travelled to the boats together she ignored the glare of the older slytherins who would probably tell their parents that Francine was interacting with those who were not apart of their circle, she wanted to enjoy her time at Hogwarts and not be forced to follow her parents’ rules from thousands of miles away. 

Soon enough, they crossed the threshold of the school, all baby faced and terrified behind the eyes. Their group was led by an older professor, Mcgonagall, who introduced herself and explained the sorting hat ceremony to those who were unaware. They were taken to the grand hall, tables split up into four different sections. Francine recognized some of the slytherins, as she was raised with them. Her eyes scanned over the hall, particularly fascinated with the ceiling, she gawked trying to ignore the twins who were poking each other with their wands. 

Francine accidentally bumped into another young girl as one of the twins accidentally elbowed her. She apologized to the young girl with curly brown hair and a crooked smile, the girls introduced themselves to each other, the muggle-born shared that her name is Jacqueline but preferred to go by Jackie, as her little brother struggled to pronounce her full name. The girls giggled until they found themselves sat down with the gaggle of first years who were nervous to begin the ceremony. After a few words were shared by the headmaster, the sorting hat was brought out and Mcgonagall began announcing the first year’s names. 

“Diggory, Cedric!” Hufflepuff!

“Evans, Jacqueline!” Slytherin!

Francine grew nervous, as the list went down closer to her last name. 

“Harrison, Adam!” Gryffindor!

She knew she was next, judging by the icy stares of the slytherin table she could feel at the back of her head. The twins seemed to sense her nervousness, 

“Good luck, Frankie,” they said at the same time, Francine looked at them bewildered, no one had ever called her anything but Francine. 

“Hemlock, Francine!” 

She made her way to the stool, nervous energy radiating off her. She knew she was going to be put in slytherin, it was her namesake. But why did her palms sweat as the hat was placed on her perfectly braided hair.

“Hmm, it’s been a longtime since I have had a Hemlock on this stool. A long line of slytherins I see.” His deep voice sent vibrations down her spine, she was unsure what to think at that moment, which was rare for this girl. 

“But you are not a slytherin at all, no. You may be cunning and ambitious, but that is not what is in your heart, young Hemlock.”

Her heart was beating faster than ever, how could she not be a slytherin, it was destined since birth. Her clothing was all green, black, and silver as was her bedroom growing up. 

“Or yet-”

No, no, no Francine thought to herself, this could not be happening to her. 

“"-in wise old Ravenclaw,  
If you've a ready mind,  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind." The sorting hat finished his old rhyme. 

“RAVENCLAW!” He roared to the crowd, loud cheers bursted from the sea of blue, welcoming the nearly crying girl in their arms as she was pushed off the stool. An older ravenclaw who later introduced himself as Talbott wiped the tears gathering in her eyes and told her it was okay, it happened to more students than you expect. He ruffled her bangs that dropped from her braid and told her to eat some of the bread rolls, as an older Ravenclaw instructed him to do so when he was placed into the house. Francine tuned out of the rest of the ceremony, focusing on the two redheads who were whispering in each other’s ears, sometimes pointing at her or somewhere else in the room, like they were plotting something. 

She paid attention to the two boys when Mcgonagall called their names, cheering politely when they got sorted into Gryffindor. She waved at the boys and tried to make eye contact with Jackie who seemed terrified being surrounded by the slytherins. 

In spite of the anxiety bubbling just below the surface, Francine also felt relieved. She did not know why she felt this, if her father was here he would be arguing with the hat and dumbledore, threatening anyone if his daughter was not in slytherin. 

But this was something he could not control, like the wand that chose her. She was something entirely different than what her parents raised her to be. She would not just be Francine Hemlock, slytherin, who would be married off to another pureblood family to produce more slytherins, she could not imagine her life with someone like Draco or any of the other kid’s she was raised with, those children were just carbon copy of their parents and full of hatred like the previous generation. 

She would become Frankie, a ravenclaw, trailed by a plump orange cat whose cries sound like a rusty motor, befriending those with love in their hearts, not caring what house they belonged to or where they came from. 

_________________________________________________

Years later, Francine entered her fifth year, best friends with Jackie and Cedric, always shadowed by an orange cat, and oftentimes a scapegoat for a pair of pranking twins. As prefect she should have apprehended the twins who were often leaving little gifts to various unexpecting students, but for some reason she always let them slide. Claiming not her house, not her problem to fellow prefect Cedric. 

Cedric and Jackie always noticed her soft spot for the twins, as they grew up it became painfully obvious she felt something for one of them. A soft blush touched her cheeks whenever they jostled each other around, Frankie often thought about the time Fred and George pinched her cheeks and she nearly broke Fred’s nose, as she was not expecting both of the twins to touch her face. 

Something changed when she almost broke his nose in their fourth year, but she could not put a finger on it. They still messed with each other, but it turned softer, almost loving, especially with one particular twin. When the first day arrived back at Hogwarts, she felt anxious seeing her boys again, her heart beated a little quicker and her whole face felt flush. She wondered what did change since the end of their fourth year? She managed to wave at them during the sorting ceremony, but then her focus was put onto the scared newcomers, as prefect she wanted to welcome each individual new witch or wizard.

Frankie was excited for the year to come, even with the awkwardness she felt around her close friends, she tucked away into a pile of blankets and pillows for the first night of the year. As per tradition, all the ravenclaws slept together in the common year with the first years, drinking hot chocolate and pumpkin juice, sharing stories to ease the young ones. She saw herself in their terrified faces, wearing too big pajamas hoping they would grow into them as the year passes. 

She distinctly remembers sitting on the floor of the ravenclaw common room her first night ever, wrapped in green and silver pajamas, crying to a few of the older students. Frankie explained through her tears, she was not upset to be in Ravenclaw, but rather afraid of what her parents would think or do. She felt embarrassed crying about all the slytherin gear her parents sent her with, but a few seven years waved their wands and changed them to ravenclaw, making the young Hemlock smile for once. 

Frankie took her time to make sure her year ones were settled before she let her cat loose on them. Pumpkin took his time making his way around to the year ones, letting them cuddle him as long as they needed to be. Frankie often joked that Pumpkin belonged in Hufflepuff, Cedric even gifted the young cat a small scarf that matched the rest of the Hufflepuff students. 

As the year ones fell asleep, the rest of the ravenclaws soon followed. Easing off to sleep with bellies full of sugary snacks and warm from the mountains of blankets the year sevens conjured just for the night. 

For once, rather than a sleep haunted by dreams of her father and his equally horrible friends, Frankie fell asleep to images of a mop of red hair and devious smile surrounded by freckles.


End file.
